Eternally
by Xenon1
Summary: What will Harry do to keep Hermione after graduation?


Note: I don't own any of Harry Potter. That lucky J.K. Rowling does. Ask her.

Harry Potter was worried.

Not that he wasn't worried almost 100% of the time about something or other, but this was really, you know, **worried**. Even when Voldemort was at the height of his power last year, he never felt this anxious.

What could have made him so tense, you ask?

A girl, of course! One Hermione Granger, Hogwarts Head Girl and girlfriend to the Boy Who Lived, to be precise.

Harry had just ran into Lavender Brown, fellow Gryffindor 7th year, minutes before.

"Harry!" she called out to him, as Harry was walking down the Gryffindor corridor looking for his best friend Ron Weasley. Classes were over for the seventh years, their N.E.W.T's and finals completed. They had just another week until the term ended.

"Huh…" Harry muttered as he spun around. "Oh hi, Lavender. What's going on?"

She ran up to him, a bit out of breath. "Hermione just ran by here and it looked like she was crying! I asked her what was wrong, but she just kept running! What do you suppose is wrong with her?" she asked.

"I haven't a clue. Where was she headed?" he questioned.

"To our common room. She looked really distraught, Harry. You should go see what's happened to her. You are her **lover**, after all." Lavender added, with a slight grin.

Harry sputtered at this, "N.. n ...no! We haven't! Never!"

"Riiight. You've been together three years, Harry. You've both grown up quite a bit. It's common knowledge, you know."

"I.. I swear! We haven't!"

"Uh-huh. You better go now, you wouldn't want to keep her alone after all." Lavender purred. She whisked around and started on her way.

"Lavender!"

"Bye, Harry!"

Harry had never been so embarrassed before. He didn't know where that rumor came from, but it certainly wasn't true. A little bit to his disappointment, actually, but he loved Hermione too much to ever risk hurting her. Shaking that thought out of his head, Harry marched to the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Caput Draconis." he muttered. Fitting for that to be the last password he would ever use for the common room, it being the first one back in his first year. The portrait swung to the side, revealing the Gryffindor common room inside. Harry climbed in and looked around.

Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan were sitting at one of the tables playing Wizard Chess and Neville Longbottom was trying, without much success, to build a castle out of Exploding Snap cards. Every time he built a level, one of the cards blew up and caused the whole thing to fall.

"Stupid thing!" Neville cried out as another card blew up in his face. "I give up!"

Dean noticed Harry looking around. "'Lo Harry. Did you see Hermione? She ran right by us. Didn't say a word, ran up to her bedroom."

"What do you think is wrong with her, Harry?" Neville asked, as he threw the cards in the fireplace. 

"I dunno. I haven't seen her since breakfast. Her bedroom, you say?" Harry said. Dean nodded, "She was crying too."

Seamus piped in, "Good luck Harry. You know how girls get."

"Yeah, I know, but I've got to see what's wrong." Harry said and climbed up the stairs to the Hermione's room. As Head Girl, she had her own bedroom and everything. Reaching her door, he knocked quietly.

"Hermione? It's Harry. What's the matter?" he whispered.

"Leave me alone!" she half-shouted, half-sobbed. "Just leave me be!" With that, the sound of her throwing herself onto her bed came out of the room.

"You know I can't do that, dear." Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at the door. "_Alohomora!_" The door unlocked with a click.

Harry slowly walked into her room and quietly closed the door behind him. Hermione's room was impeccable as usual, her robes folded neatly and everything in their respective places. The sound of silent sobbing was coming from under her bedsheets where she had climbed into. Harry tiptoed to her bedside, catching glimpse of her Head Girl badge on the nightstand. A piece of black cloth seemed to be hanging from it as well. 

Harry remembered how happy she had been when she received her notification of being Head Girl at the Burrow, almost crushing every single one of the Weasleys, as well as Harry, with her hugs. Harry had been offered Head Boy as well, but he didn't think he really deserved it so he let the next candidate take the position, a boy from Ravenclaw. The boy was tried of the all the prestige he had and wanted to give someone else a chance, especially after all the commotion that had surrounded Voldemort's defeat by his hands at the end of last school year. Luckily, being awarded both Order of Merlin, First Class and Order of the Phoenix, First Class didn't go to his head. 

"Hermione? What's wrong?" he asked quietly. When no answer came from the bed, he slowly pulled back the sheets to reveal her face. She had been crying all right, tears were streaming down her red cheeks. 

"H... H… Harry." Hermione sobbed. "I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about, my love." He knelt down at the side of the bed. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, really. Silly actually, you'd laugh at me." She whispered, getting closer to the edge of the bed. 

"I'd never do such a thing. Never. You know that." He said, lightly touching the side of her face and wiping away some of her tears. She held out her hand and Harry took it ever so lightly.

"The famous Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, vanquisher of Lord Voldemort, Order of Merlin, First Class. So valiant, so brave… So kind and sweet." she said. "How does a silly little Muggle-born witch like me deserve to be with such a great man?" 

Harry blushed, "Don't sell yourself short. You're a much better witch than I'll ever be wizard. I'm not that great and you know it. I… we… couldn't have destroyed Voldemort without each other anyway." That was actually quite the truth. It took the friendship between himself, Hermione, and Ron to finally defeat Voldemort once and for all. Their love for each other was much too great for Lord Voldemort to destroy. "The question is, why does a silly little wizard like me deserve such a beautiful and kind woman like yourself?"

She smiled, her tears stopped, "You always knew how to flatter me, Harry Potter." Propping herself against the headboard, Hermione patted the side of the bed for Harry to sit on. Harry got the clue and sat himself down at her side. Hermione lay against his chest and Harry took her in his arms. "Mmm… I love it when you hold me like this, Harry. Almost as much as I love you."

"As do I, Hermione. Now, what were you crying about earlier?" he whispered in her ear, his free hand stroking her straight hair. Both Hermione and Harry had grown a lot in the past few years, one change being that Hermione got her hair straightened. It now looked quite like what it was like at the Yule Ball three years ago. Harry much preferred it to her previous hairstyle, but didn't dare say a word, fearful of his girlfriend's wrath.

"It's nothing, really." She muttered. "It's just that… I don't want to leave."

"Leave where?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"The school, silly. Aren't you forgetting that graduation is a week away? Or did you get hit one too many times with a stray bludger?" Hermione smirked, remembering all the times Harry had been inadvertently struck while playing Quidditch.

"Oh! That… Well… It's not like we can't come back, dear. We can always apparate to the school."

"Harry James Potter! How many times have I told you can't Apparate on Hogwarts grounds?!" Hermione said sternly. Neither Harry nor Ron had ever read _Hogwarts, A History_, even after Hermione's continual badgering.

Harry couldn't help but laugh, "I know, I know. I was joking! I meant Hogsmeade! We can always Apparate to Hogsmeade and walk up here."

"I suppose so, but I'm going to miss all my friends and all the adventures we had here at Hogwarts."

"We'll still have our share of adventures, Hermione. We seem to attract trouble, you know." Harry grinned. They did attract their fair share of problems after all.

"Will we still be together, Harry?" Hermione looked up at his face.

"We will **always** be together. No matter what." Harry responded, looking down at her brown eyes.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"You love me right, Harry?"

Harry sighed, "Do you remember the battle last year?" He was talking about the final bout between themselves and Voldemort. The Ministry had finally found where Voldemort's hideout was and the Wizarding World had sent their best to fight him and the Death Eaters. Of course, Harry and his friends had found out as well and couldn't resist going with Dumbledore. Even he couldn't talk them out of it. Luckily for them, only Harry could defeat Voldemort, thanks to some ancient magic running through both of them, connecting both of them to the other. After Voldemort's defeat, Harry had fallen into a month-long sleep. They were afraid he wouldn't wake up, and magic didn't do anything, but Hermione stayed by him the entire time.

"Of course, I couldn't ever forget that."

"Remember when I woke up? You were crying beside my bed and didn't notice that I had risen."

Hermione nodded.

"I whispered to you, and you glanced up and threw your arms around me. Do you remember what you said, Hermione?"

"I love you." She recalled.

"That was the happiest moment of my life." He put simply.

Hermione's eyes lit up, "Really? What about Voldemort's defeat? Surel…"

Harry cut her off, placing his finger to her lips, "Not even close… I love you, Hermione Granger."

Tears of joy began to form in the girl's eyes, "And I love you, Harry Potter."

With that, Harry lightly kissed Hermione. She smiled and rested her head against his chest again.

"Hold me while I sleep, Harry." Hermione whispered.

"Of course. I wouldn't rather be anywhere else than with you." Harry said, lightly kissing her hair. Slowly, Hermione drifted off to sleep. Harry kept his word and continued to hold her, all the while thinking to himself.

"I think… I think now is the time to do it, Potter. You've waited years for this… she's finally yours… Now is the time."

Harry slowly took out his wand, carefully as to not wake up Hermione, and pointed it in the general direction of his dormitory.

"_Accio!"_

--

"Golly. He's been up there quite some time hasn't he?" Neville said, back in the Gryffindor common room. Dean and Seamus were still there. Lavender, Ron, Parvati, and Ginny had joined them.

"You know how Hermione is, Neville." Ron said, who had recently come from visiting his Ravenclaw girlfriend. "Harry's going to be up there awhile."

"What do you suppose they're doing anyway?" Parvati asked of the rest of them. Dean and Seamus couldn't help but make some… suggestive movements, but there were quickly hit by an angry Ron. "Stop it you two! That's **Hermione and Harry** you're talking about."

"Idiots." Lavender muttered to herself, yet still agreeing with the two boys.

"Oh get off it Ron. Hmm… You know what we should do?" Seamus said, his face lighting up.

"What?" Ginny asked.

"Spy on them of course!" Both Seamus and Dean said enthusiastically. 

"Er… I dunno.. it seems kinda wrong. They deserve their privacy." Neville chimed in.

"Damn straight they deserve their privacy!" Ron said angrily. "We can't do that!"

"I know you want to find out what they always do up there, Ron. Don't lie to us, we're your friends." Dean told him. He was right, actually. Ron **did** want to know. He'd been seeing a lot less of Harry lately.

"But…" Ron said meekly.

"But nothing. Tell you what. We won't even look at them. I know a charm that will let us listen in right outside her door." Seamus said. "It's a very clever little spell."

"Oh all right! Just listening!" Ron said, giving up on his better judgement.

"And what about the rest of you?" Seamus asked the other four. Ginny, Neville, Parvati, and Lavender all nodded.

"All right! Let's go!" Seamus said, holding up his fist in the air. "Quitely now, we don't want them to hear us." He led the others up the stairs, all of them tiptoeing as quietly as possible. Once they reached Hermione's door, Seamus took out his wand and pointed it at the doorway.

"_Sonitus!"_ he said. He turned back to the group, "All right, now we should be able to hear everything if we get close to the door."

All of them put their ears to the door and listened as silently as they could.

--

Harry looked down at the box he held in his hand, which he had retrieved from his dormitory. It seemed to weigh a lot more now than when he bought it last summer.

"Oh, Merlin… I can't believe I'm doing this… I'm insane." He said to himself. He looked down at the still sleeping Hermione. "But I love her so much. It's the only way."

Harry slowly moved his head down closer to Hermione's and whispered in her ear.

"Hermione? Wake up, dear. There's something important I need to tell you. Hermione?"

"Ung… Harry? What is it? I was having such a nice dream. It was our wedding day…" she said quietly. "It was lovely."

Harry swallowed, "Hermione…" Hermione picked up her head and looked up at Harry. "What is it Harry?"

The weight of the box seemed to increase tenfold in Harry's hands. "I… I… I want to ask you something." He slowly opened the box, but Hermione didn't notice.

"Hermione…. "

"Harry?"

"I would be honored… if you would marry me." Harry whispered and brought the box up to her face. A ring glistened from inside.

Hermione's eyes widened as she took in what Harry had just said. "Harry!"

--

"MERLIN'S GHOST!" Ron shouted as he toppled over the rest of the group. They had heard the whole thing.

"Woohoo! Go Harry! Go Harry!" Seamus and Dean gave each other high-fives and started a little jig of their creation.

"Wow!" Neville said in complete surprise. "I would have never… Well… yeah. I would have."

"How sweet!" Lavender said, holding her hands to her chest.

"I wish my boyfriend could do that! Good for nothing git." Parvati said, slightly annoyed.

"No!" Ginny cried, obviously upset that her crush was gone, but very happy for Herimone.

--

"Harry! I… I.. don't know what to say!" Hermione told him.

"Say yes, that's all I ask." Harry said, his hand stroking her cheek.

"Why, of course! Of course I'll marry you Harry!" she said, throwing her arms around him. The ring forgotten, Harry pulled her close. "I love you." He said.

"I love you, too." Hermione responded, her eyes starting to tear up. Harry pulled her face close to his and kissed her with all the love he could muster.

"Thank you, Mother. Thank you, Father." he whispered.

_Thunk!_

_"OW!"_

The two pulled apart, "Did you hear that, Harry?" Hermione said. "It sounded like Ron!" She looked at the door and pulled out her wand. "_Expositus!" _The door swung open, revealing their friends outside the door. Neville squeaked and ran downstairs.

"Oh… Hi. How's it going?" Dean said as he stopped dancing, trying to act inconspicuous.

"You were listening in?!" Hermione shouted. 

"Well, yeah… b..b..but…." Seamus stuttered.

"You know what?! I don't care! I'm too happy!" Hermione said.

"Woohoo!" Seamus and Dean shouted. They knew how angry Miss Head Girl could get.

"Oh, Hermione!" Ginny cried, running to her best friend and hugging her. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Lucky…" Both Lavender and Parvati muttered.

"Y... Y… You! You're dead, Potter! You can't get married! Especially not to **Hermione**! She's like… our sister!" Ron pointed at Harry. "I can't believe this!"

"Believe it, Ron. You knew I was planning this anyway!" Harry pointed out.

"You knew!?!" Both Ginny and Hermione said suddenly as they broke their embrace.

"Well, yeah, but I didn't believe he was going to do it." Ron mumbled, looking down at his feet.

"You're mine, Weasley. Just wait until the summer!" Hermione said, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Don't kill my best man, Hermione." Harry told his fiancée, strolling up to his best friend. "We need him, you know."

"Best man? Really?" Ron looked up, a smile on his face.

"Of course!" Harry grinned as he slapped his friend's back.

"Cool!" Ron exclaimed, quite happy with the whole situation now.

Harry couldn't help but grin. Everything was falling into place for him. His gir… no… fiancée was finally his and his only, his best friend was quite happy, Voldemort was gone, and he was set to come of age soon. 

Everything was perfect for Harry. For once in his life, everything would be all right.

--

"_Well. I guess this is it. The last step. This couldn't be much more difficult that defeating Voldemort, could it?" _Harry wondered as he tried to sleep, Herimone already asleep and snuggled up next to him. He had snuck into her room for the night. The news of their engagement had spread throughout the school very quickly, thanks to Ginny running around and telling everyone she could find. Most of the school was finally glad to hear the news, aside from the Slytherins, who hated any good news concerning Harry, but even Malfoy couldn't ruin this.  Even the professors were happy for them. Professor Snape had even sent his well wishes, but ever so grudgingly. Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall had offered to assist in the wedding preparations as well. Harry had sent Sirius a letter, but he wouldn't receive it until morning at the earliest, but Harry knew that Sirius would rush up to the school at once, now that his name was cleared. Everything was ideal, for once.

"_Nah. Couldn't be."_

--

What little you know, young Harry Potter. What little you know.

--

Fin.

Author's Notes: Hey, my first HP fanfic. Kinda rushed at the end tho. Oh well.

Anything but Harry/Hermione drives me up the wall. =) Ron can have Fleur or someone. Anyone but Hermione. =)

{laugh}  You have no idea how depressed I was getting while I wrote that first part with Harry and Hermione. My love life sucks. 


End file.
